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Encarnacion's two RBIs pace Blue Jays in draw

Encarnacion's two RBIs pace Blue Jays in draw

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Edwin Encarnacion drove in a pair of runs while Toronto's Brandon Morrow and Boston's Justin Germano each threw two scoreless innings in a 3-3 draw on Wednesday afternoon at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.

The Blue Jays first got on the scoreboard in the third thanks to an erratic inning by Justin Thomas. Boston's left-hander surrendered a leadoff single to center field and then proceeded to hit and walk the following two batters.

Jose Bautista then popped out, but Encarnacion came through with a single to left field. Two runs scored, and during the play, the ball was booted by Cody Ross, which allowed Kelly Johnson to come around to score all the way from first base while Encarnacion cruised into second.

Boston responded in the following frame with two runs of its own. The Red Sox had runners on second and third with two outs when right-hander Francisco Cordero induced a ground ball off the bat of Juan Carlos Linares. The routine grounder was fielded cleanly by Omar Vizquel, but Toronto's shortstop underthrew the ball and his toss skipped past first baseman Mike McDade, which allowed two unearned runs to score.

Morrow got the start for the Blue Jays and didn't allow a run in two innings of work. The lone hit he surrendered occurred in the top of the first inning on a fly ball to right field. Outfielder Ben Francisco got twisted around on the play and what potentially would have been a makeable catch instead dropped for a double.

Toronto's No. 2 pitcher then proceeded to retire the next three batters he faced to escape the inning without any damage. He threw 18 of his 27 pitches for strikes and got designated hitter David Ortiz swinging in Morrow's lone strikeout of the afternoon.

Germano opened the game for Boston and allowed one hit in two scoreless innings. He also hit a batter in the first inning but managed to get out of the mini jam by getting Colby Rasmus to ground out.

Up next for the Blue Jays: Brett Cecil will make his second start of the spring when the Blue Jays close out a three-game homestand with a game against the Yankees at 1:05 p.m. ET on Thursday. Chad Beck, Drew Carpenter, Jesus Figueroa, Jason Frasor, Jerry Gil, Jim Hoey and Scott Richmond are also scheduled to pitch.